Mississippi

Edit 0 10 …
Author: Ben Hernandez


  • State:
    Mississippi

  • Fossil:
    Prehistoric Whales: Basilosaurus (Basilosaurus cetoides) and Zygorhiza (Zygorhiza kochii)

  • Description:
    Basilosaurus fossil at the Museum of Natural History
    Basilosaurus fossil at the Museum of Natural History
    Basilosaurus was a large whale-like creature that lived 34-40 million years ago, or the Eocene Epoch. It grew around 45-60 feet in length and is considered the largest animal of its day. one of its defining features is the tiny pair of legs attached to its pelvis that shows that whales evolved from land animals.
    Zygorhiza was also a prehistoric whale that lived 35-40 million years ago. It grew to be 20 feet long. It had an unusually sleek body and its fins were hinged at what look like elbows. this suggests that prehistoric whales may have dragged themselves onto the land to give birth.

  • Time Existed:


    Basilosaurus and Zygorhiza both lived around 35-40 million years ago. This time period is known as the Eocene Epoch, which is the second of five Epochs that make up the Tertiary period. The Earth was mostly ice- free and many of the continents that we know today were connected, such as Antarctica and Australia, and North America and Europe.


    What Bailosaurus may have looked like.
    What Bailosaurus may have looked like.
  • Preservation:
    In the Eocene Epoch, most of the state of Mississippi was covered in tropical seas. Only the northern part of the state was free of the water. Most of the fossils that have been found have been from those tropical seas. They have been preserved in the layer of rock and silt that made up the sea floor.

  • Discoverer:
    Basilosaurus was first discovered in Arkansas, by Richard Harlan in 1834. He discovered many fragments of the skeleton, and it wasn't until 1895 that the first complete skeleton of Basilosaurus was put together.
    Zygorhiza was discovered by a man named Reichenbach in the early 1800's. The first complete skeleton was finished in 1834.

  • Why are they the State Fossils: These two prehistoric whales are the state fossils because in the early 1800s Mississippi, Alabama, and Louisiana all became famous for their huge amounts of prehistoric marine animal fossils, Basilosaurus and Zygorhiza being the most common.
    Zygorhiza fossil.
    Zygorhiza fossil.
    What Zygorhiza would have looked like.
    What Zygorhiza would have looked like.